(2025) Weighing in with a featherweight 10.5% alcohol, I thought this was a bit of a star of the moderate alcohol Oxford Landing selection tasted. Wild yeast fermentation, lees ageing and a touch of oak influence give a creaminess and light nuttiness on the nose, some rounded yellow fruit character - yellow plum, peach - and freshness too. The palate is arguably a touch dilute, but the flavour is good, with that nutty aspect again underpinning stone fruits and the modest 2.1g/l of residual sugar meaning it finishes on the freshness of the acidity. At it's price and ABV I enjoyed this. £5.98 in Asda at time of review, but in all the supermarkets. Watch the video for more information.

(2024) From the Grand Chais de France, a large producer with wineries across France, this is a blend of Colombard, Ugni Blanc and Gros Manseng. It's labelled as a Vin de France, the cross-regional appellation, though those varieties all speak of the Southwest. It's what I'd call a very handy, all-purpose summer sipper. Aromas are clean and fresh, red apples and citrus, a little hint of creaminess. With only 11% alcohol it could be a fine, cheap garden wine if we enjoy an Indian summer, with crisp and dry flavours yet abundant, pert fruitiness making it easy to sip on its own or match to salads and lighter dishes. Not every wine has to be full of complexity and intrigue: some are just the right wine at the right price for everyday drinking. Watch the video for more information.

(2024) Note that this is a special edition of Torres' popular Viña Sol, lower in alcohol than the 'Original' which you will also find in stores and with a slightly different grape composition being made from Garnacha Blanca and Parellada. The floral aspect of this is prominent, with spring flowers and fresh green herbs, as well as citrus and crunchy grape aromas. It is light and juicy on the palate, with plenty of sweet fruit suggesting nectarine and lychee, into a balanced finish with zippy acidity. With only 11% alcohol, a useful summer in the garden contender. Watch the video for more information and food matching ideas.

(2024) From bush vines, fruit is predominantly from Stellenbosch, Paarl and Swartland. The wine is unoaked but sees extended time on the lees. The nose has ripe pear and apple, but hinting at more tropical character. The palate has creaminess and light waxiness, with a similar fruit profile and good balance.

(2024) The terroir in question is Swartland, for a wine made by the Gabb Family of Journey's End in Stellenbosch, but from Swartland vineyards planted in 1987. Bush vines are planted on sandy loam soils, and partially dry farmed without irrigation. The wine is unoaked, but clearly has seen lees ageing given its creaminess of both aroma and texture. On the nose there is passion fruit and guava, a buttery but tropical character. On the palate there is plentiful sweetness and richness in a wine with just 12.5% alcohol, the lime and lemon acidity has a bit of fatness, so the whole picture is well balanced but generous in style. Watch the video for more information and food-matching ideas.

(2024) Lots of talk on the back label about this wine, and its Sangiovese red partner, offering a 'bold new twist' on tradition. It's made by giant Australia-based Accolade Wines, distributors of numerous brands. Both wines are IGT Terre Siciliane from Sicily. Fiano di Avellino from Campania is the icon of this variety, and this shares the basic characteristics of gentle honey, herbs and lemon. But it is as if the dial had been turned up in terms of talcum-powder and floral perfumed aromatics, and sweetness on the palate. To that end, for me it does come across as slightly too 'manufactured'. A hint of residual sugar adds to nagging feeling of marketing being the driver, rather than a rather more unforced honesty. No doubt this will appear with a pound or two off fairly regularly.

(2023) It's over a decade since I last visited Mud House on a trip to New Zealand, at that time an ambitious and impressive operation that already made wines in Marlborough, Waipara and Central Otago. In 2021 I was surprised to receive a sample of a Sauvignon Blanc from Mud House Chile, the company having branched out to South America. Now in 2023, they've come back to Sauvignon Blanc's homeland of France, though not the Loire Valley, but the Languedoc. You may, if you wish, line-up wines from the three countries to compare and contrast. For me, this French version is a hit: it successfully marries New World exuberance with a bit of Old World savoury restraint. It has prerequisite passion fruit and gooseberry, but a dry, grapefruit and lemon palate with decent length too. £8.00 at time of writing in Morrisons. Watch the video for more information.  

(2023) Note that the 2021 vintage tasted here in July 2023 has just been replaced by the 2022. I have not tasted that, but I can only imagine in this abundantly fresh style of wine youth is an advantage. The nose is all green apple and lime, streaking freshness, but there is an undertow because of the lees ageing that adds a little pillow of something more oatmeally. In the mouth it's a vibrant style that won't scare a Loire Sauvignon lover; loads of fresh-squeezed citrus and a lick of salt, into a long, textured and dry finish.

(2023) There are quite a few Australian Chardonnays at around the £10 mark in UK supermarkets, often on promotion to nearer £8, and I dare say this new brand from Château Tanunda might be one of their rank. It is, however, one of the better ones I have tasted too: only 12.5% alcohol, not too sweet, with nicely judged oaking. Aromas are of crushed oatmeal and almon, a ripe and nutty Cox's pippen fruit beneath, just hinting at something more tropical. In the mouth medium bodied and fresh thanks to that low alcohol and decent acidity, the fruit staying nicely edgy - more lemon and ripe apple than tropical - through to the finish.

(2023) From an estate run by the Ferret family for six generations, this wine comes from Armagnac country, where more and more estates are adding table wines to their brandy production. Composed of 80% Colombard and 20% Sauvignon Blanc, the nose is all about typical Sauvignon aromatics of elderflower, passion fruit and gooseberry, before a ripe and fresh palate where juicy and zippy grapefruit is the driving force. There is a hint of nectarine sweetness through the mid-palate, before citrus - mainly grapefruit- kicks in once more.